Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Review: figma Rin Shibuya
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Max Factory |
| Figure Number: | EX-11 |
| Origin Series: | The Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 13.5cm tall |
| Original Price: | 3,333 Yen |
| Packaging: |
Being a figma released in early 2013, Rin still adapts the series-unique box styles and Shiburin has a bunch of stars as well as what seems to be gear? (correct me if I'm wrong though) Being one of the first figmas that was released for im@s CG (Anzu being the other), this box design carries over to the others before Ranko who finally uses the generic box design of the newer figmas.
Like any other figma, new or old, the sides of the box features two enlarged product shots while the backside features key points of the figure as would any other packaging does.
Like any other figma, the clamshell sleeve contains a cutout for di:stages which features a neat encircled diamond as seen in the cards on the game as well two stars.
| Details: |
Starting off with her head, I think figma captured her looks pretty well if we're talking about how she looked like in the game cards as this version is indeed based off the game. Her hair turned out alright at best but I think it could've used some more details on it to make it look so much better but that is asking too much from an articulated figure. ^^;
Additionally, one of Shiburin's easy to remember details is that she wears a silver necklace when on her school uniform and the figma rendition captures that quite well, I love the paint finish on it and it really is very noticeable even from afar; up front, there aren't any paint errors on mine so it definitely looks amazing!
Going to her outfit, Shiburin's default outfit is her school uniform; though Shiburin is in a school uniform, it's very unique such that she wears a loose necktie and that she wears a cardigan on top of her uniform making it look way more stylish than your average school uniforms. I really love how each button is painted in a brown-ish shade as it does pop out very well and helps in making her outfit look less dull; the paint apps on her neck tie is also finished in a very clean manner on my piece. While overall the details look very good, there is some messy work on her cardigan but the good thing is that they're pretty much only noticeable if you look them up closely; also there are some rough marks on my piece's elbow joints but that maybe because I got this from a second hand store.
Shiburin wears a really short skirt that's finished in a gray shade; additionally, if you check the back, they also incorporated the "layered" skirt gimmick which helps on adding to her hip articulation so that's a big plus for me.
As for her lower part, it's your typical normal socks and shoes that's finished in blue and brown paint respectively. For some additional pros, the ankle joints perfectly blend with her socks and her shoes does have some interesting details going on there.
| Accessories: |
Being a school uniform figma, Shiburin doesn't come with much as she only comes with alternate forearms which you can use to emulate her having her hands inside her pocket, a leash rope which goes into the collar of her dog, Hanako, a right hand for holding the rope and 3 extra pairs of hands which comes in the form of fists, closed palm hands and gripping hands if you want to give her other figma accessories.As for her alternate face plates, she comes with a side glancing humble smile and a really cheerful smile which looks wonderful IMO! Of course, last but not least, she comes with your standard figma stand.
| Articulation Points: |
Once again starting with the head, Shiburin generally has a neat range of neck movement as she can look up or up to a good degree, tilt her head and rotate to her left or right; her sideways rotation might get limited from time to time due to her hair but as far as being realistic goes, she definitely has that covered magnificently.
You can fully rotate her arms via the shoulders as well as raise it to a good 90; additionally, you can slightly pull down her arms due to the ball joint on her shoulders.
An additionally note is that the shoulder portion of her uniform does have some soft plastic in there so you can actually raise her arm sidewards without needing to fit the arm tip inside the socket area; but of course, if you're planning to do this, do handle with care since I don't know if this can affect the figure negatively.
Going to the arms, you can bend her arms via the elbow joints for a good 75 degree-ish bend, you can also make use of the elbow to swivel her forearms since the swivel movement on the shoulder connector is quite limited. Lastly, being a figma released before the advent of 2.0 bodies, Shiburin uses the old limited wrist joint which can only hinge on a fixed point and swivel via the peg.
Shiburin's legs can move forward or backward to a neat degree via the hip joints and this is thanks to the layered skirt gimmick, you can also turn her legs by a bit via the hip joints since that's the nearest you'll get to a thigh joint. The legs bend at the knee joints to a very satisfying range that's very similar to her elbow range.
Lastly, the ankle joints are quite disappointing since you really can't turn her feet that well, thus, making the ankle joints function more for feet tilting and making use of the hinge since that's pretty much free of limitations.
| Poseability: |
While Shiburin has a very decent articulation, there isn't much you can do with her on her own since she really doesn't come with that much but you can make use of her palm and open hands to do some concert steps; speaking of live performances, I think if they actually gave her more hands applicable for that, it'd be a better package overall but hey, you can always borrow hands from other figmas but you won't see it in this review though. :p
Rin's big smile does help in having her posed in more casual and unusual poses since it does add an impression that Shiburin can be pretty playful.
The inclusion of a walking Hanako actually makes the set more worth the buck since you can pretty much do a lot more than just having Rin hold/pet/walk Hanako, it's up to your imagination actually and how much you play with your pet dog if you have any. XD
Lastly, the hand in pocket parts does make Shiburin look cooler than any other school uniform releases and this does indeed give her a more character-accurate feel. Combining the hand-in-pocket with her 3 faceplates really creates different emotions for her character as you can even make Shiburin look like she's down in the dumps with the proper setup.
| Final Thoughts: |
Late last month, Max Factory announced a semi-improved figma of Rin Shibuya, dubbed as "Cinderella Project version"; from initial impressions, that new Rin is definitely gonna be the better release since it uses the new wrist joints and does come with more accessories BUT do note that owning this Rin does have its own merits, assuming that her faceplates are compatible for the new one, this is the only Shiburin figma that comes with a bunch of smiling faces as the new one has none, either way if you can't swap faces, I'm pretty confident you can at least swap their heads. Additionally, this Rin has the walking Hanako as opposed to the sitting Hanako of the new one. Definitely, this game version of figma Shiburin certainly isn't a disappointment to those who already own her; if you truly like Shiburin then by all means, try to snag this piece if you see a cheap one, I actually get her last year for cheaps but with the anime this season, the price of this figma inflated to around 12k yen more or less and then lowered to a more staple 8k yen when the new figma was announced. Anyway, before I end the review, I got this beautiful Cinderella from XenoToys, so check them out!
I give Rin a shining 4.5 out of 5.
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